On September 17-19, 2012, over 800 buyers and sellers of oilseed products and feed grains coming from more than 38 states within the U.S. and 40 countries convened at the 7th annual Soy & Grain Trade Summit in New Orleans. They heard more than 60 industry experts, including Antonio Galindez, CEO of Dow AgroSciences, and Thomas Mielke, editor-in-chief of Oil World publications, present cutting-edge knowledge and discuss industry trends in nearly 30 sessions during the three-day Summit organized in the following tracks: Food and Healthy Oils, Feed, Transportation, Production, Processing, Trade Financing, and Risk Management.

Attendees were complimentary about both the format of the Summit and the networking that the event provided for them to develop concrete business opportunities. “This has become one of the must-attend events in the industry,” said Eric Jackson of Conservis in Minneapolis. Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), a key corporate sponsor of the event over the past six years, concurred, “The Soy & Grain Trade Summit has evolved into a must-attend annual event for U.S. suppliers around the world to gather, and for us, it's an opportunity to bring our international soybean buyers to the U.S. during the critical harvest period in North America”.